Residents of eastern Gaza city say they were forced to flee their homes after Israeli troops and allied local militias advanced into the Al Tuffah and Al Sha‘af areas in an overnight operation launched on Wednesday.
The neighbourhoods are close to the “yellow line” to which Israeli troops withdrew in October under a fragile US-backed ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The line runs the length of the narrow coastal strip and leaves Israel in control of the eastern, northernmost and southernmost areas of the Palestinian territory. However, Israeli troops have been breaching the line since last month, according to residents.
Fouad Islim, 34, who lives near the Snafour roundabout in Al Tuffah, said Israeli armoured vehicles began operating in his neighbourhood overnight, preventing his family, which includes 10 children and his elderly father, who cannot walk, from fleeing.
“At dawn, we saw tanks had advanced more than 100 metres,” he told The National. “Then quadcopter drones dropped small yellow cubes near our homes and ordered us to evacuate immediately because the yellow line would be expanded.”
Mr Islim said the family struggled to secure transport amid gunfire from quadcopters and military vehicles. “The panic among women and children was indescribable,” he said. When they finally stepped outside in the afternoon, they saw masked men in civilian jeeps speaking Arabic, he said.
“They ordered us to leave. Some of them entered our home, insulted us and Hamas, and said the next authority would be Rami Helles,” he said, referring to the leader of a local militia that operates in the area.
Mr Islim said his family had to flee their home without their belongings, even though it lies beyond the yellow line. “The occupation [Israel] and its collaborators forced this on us,” he said.
Another resident, who asked not to be named, said men affiliated with Rami Helles arrived in black and white jeeps, firing into the air, before ordering residents to leave through loudspeakers.
“They said we had until the evening to evacuate,” he told The National. “We recognised some of them – one was from Shujaiya and known to have joined the groups working with the occupation.”
He said the experience was emotionally devastating. “It is painful that the ones who forced us out were people from our own country, not the occupation,” he said. “It would have been easier if it were the occupation alone.” He said no shootings were reported, but neighbours told him that militia members assaulted the young men in their homes.
In nearby Al Shawa Square, Ibrahim Al Shawa, 26, said hundreds of families fled throughout the day on Thursday after hearing that “the occupation and its collaborators” had ordered evacuations near the Snafour area, about 200 metres away.
“Since last night, we’ve been hearing explosions,” he told The National on Friday. “Most of the evacuated homes were blown up by the Israeli army. The demolitions continued all night.” Mr Al Shawa said he saw in the morning that homes far from the yellow line had been destroyed.
Armed groups, described by residents as Palestinian militias working with Israeli troops, are reported to have become increasingly visible in eastern Gaza.
Israel has previously acknowledged supporting such groups in Gaza to counter Hamas, with the most prominent among them being the Yasser Abu Shabab group based in Gaza's southern Rafah governorate. The group's leader was killed recently in unclear circumstances, indicating internal upheaval among these militias, according to analysts.
